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National Alliance on Mental Illness
Board of directors2013-2014
executive committee:Sue Guffey - President
Ricky Hatcher - 1st Vice PresidentJimmy Walsh - 2nd Vice President
Micah Mobley - SecretaryDr. Joel Willis - TreasurerShannon Byrd - At Large
Joan Elder - At LargeWill O’Rear - Ex-Officio
Board Members:Dr. Pippa Abston
Dr. Teruko BredemannChristi CollinsD.G. EwingPatti Ford
Dr. Nelson HandalDaisy Hollingsworth
Zina MayJane Nichols
Eleanor RohlingAna Maria SawyerCaroline Titcomb
Ruthie WarrenMichelle Alcathie-White
Lifetime Members:Rogene ParrisAnnie SaylorAnn Denbo
Sylvia Richey
staff:Wanda Laird – Executive Director
Ethel Green – Assistant to Exec. DirectorRoxann Becker – Financial/Office Assistant
William Luckie – Bookkeeper
PArtNer
Inside This Issue...• “Better Together”
• Message from the President
• Leadership Training Photos
• Program Coordinator Photos
find HeLp. find Hope.VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1 • March 2014
• Medicaid Update
• Dates to Remember
• NIMH Article, “A New Approach to Trials”
“Better Together!” NAMI Alabama Board members enjoyed hosting Dr. Jinneh Dyson during the Annual Leadership Training held recently in Montgomery, AL. Dr. Dyson, Sr. Manager with the NAMI Center for Excellence updated the Board and Affiliate Presidents on the NAMI Standards of Excellence called, “Better Together.”
Our state organization was chartered in 2012 and we are working toward re-affiliation for each of our 18 affiliates. This program/process was designed to promote the NAMI name by protecting it and to help NAMI Affiliates, NAMI State
Seated L to R: Daisy Hollingsworth, D.G. Ewing, Zina May, Dr. Pippa Abston, and Patti Ford.Standing L to R: Sue Guffey, President, Dr. Jinneh Dyson (who served as a presenter), Sr. Manager, NAMI Center for Excellence, Eleanor Rohling, Ricky Hatcher, Joan Elder,
Ana Maria Sawyer, Jimmy Walsh, Ruthie Warren, and Joel Willis.
Not Shown: Dr. Teruko Bredemann, Shannon Byrd, Christy Collins, Dr. Nelson Handal, Micah Mobley, Jane Nichols, Caroline Titcomb, and Michelle Alcathie-White.
naMi alabama Board Members
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Organizations, and NAMI achieve our goals. As a big NAMI family, our pathways to success are intertwined. We are account-able for our success as individual organizations as well as for the success of NAMI as a collective. The affiliates are working hard to meet the criteria for re-affiliation by updating policies and procedures and uploading them to our Profile Center. We are proud of Rebecca Nunez of NAMI Huntsville for conducting four training sessions on the Profile Center. As we continue with the “Better Together” theme for the Standards project, we acknowledge that no one part of NAMI can achieve its goals inde-pendently. We are strong on our own, but we do more, and accomplish more, as a result of our relationships with each other.
Message from the President
We are pleased over the victory in preserving Medicare Part D access to psychiatric medications! The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) stated that it would not move forward to “finalize” proposed rule changes under Medicare Part D that would have restricted access to antide-pressant and antipsychotic medications. HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has indicated that it has heard the concerns of people living with mental illness and others over the elimination of three protected drug classifications under Medicare Part D. Stakeholder input is critical, and we appreciate everyone who participated to help support those we serve.
Our Annual Leadership Training was a success as affiliates were provided various tools to assist with developmental strategies for growing each organization. The evaluations showed positive feedback for each presentation. Speakers were enthusiastic and motivational as everyone learned more about strategic planning, grant writing, fundraising, and having the right people in the right place. Please see the photos of each presenter in this issue. We are grateful to the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson for sponsoring the training.
Each of our Signature Program Coordinators work hard to help ensure the success of our programs. Beverly Parker, our Connection and In Our Own Voice Coordinator, and Christy Collins, who serves as a state trainer for both of these programs, have been contacting participants in each program to update their records. They have also been following up with our 11 Connection Support Groups to check on the progress of each. If you are interested in committing to conducting a weekly Connection Support Group, pleased contact Beverly Parker ([email protected] or 251-599-5562) by May 2, to be considered for the training scheduled for May 16-18 at the Drury Inn in Montgomery.
Linda Miller and I will conduct a state training for Family to Family April 25-27 at the Drury Inn in Montgomery. Interested participants should send an application (which has been emailed to each affiliate president) to their local affiliate and to me (Sue Guffey). My contact information is as follows: [email protected] or 256-927-4868.
Jackie Milton and Joan Elder are looking forward to conducting a Family Support Group training July 11-13 at the Fairfield Inn in Montgomery. Family Support Groups are for family members or loved ones of someone living with a mental illness. The groups meet once a month and are facilitated by two trained facilitators who provide a safe, nurturing place where members can learn new ways of coping at their own pace. If you are interested in facilitating a group, please check with your local affiliate and then contact Jackie Milton by April 9. Her contact information is as follows: [email protected] or 256-710-4664.
Our Outreach Programs, Sharing Hope, Hispanic, and Vet to Vet, continue to be successful. Lois Herndon, Sharing Hope Coordinator, and Ana Maria Sawyer, Hispanic Coordinator, have branched out into more territories around the state to give Sharing Hope presentations in English and Spanish. We are currently working on presenting Sharing Hope to law enforcement personnel within the next few months. In July we will celebrate National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month with a screening of Hidden Pictures, a one-hour documentary, which depicts Director Delaney Ruston’s journey to uncover personal stories in India, Africa, China, France, and the United States. This event will take place at Alabama State University in July (date to be determined) and will conclude with a panel discussion. Daniel Williams, our NAMI Alabama Veterans Military Council Representative, has been busy with the Alabama VA Veterans’ Treatment Court Task Force, the Shelby County Veterans’ Treatment Court (as a team member to help guide veterans with their care needs), and he has given several presentations around the state. Most recently, Daniel spoke, along with Judge Brian Bostick and Col. Bill Morgan, at Auburn University at Montgomery during the Alabama Judges’ Conference. We are pleased to report that since the beginning of this fiscal year, the following number of individuals have been served by each program: Sharing Hope - 808, Hispanic – 800, and Vet to Vet 1,230.
Another program that we are excited about is Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training. The program is a community partnership consisting of law enforcement officers, mental health providers, mental health consumers, and family members. All community partners work together to understand mental illness, invest time and effort to avert crisis, learn to de-escalate crisis, and direct the consumer to appropriate care. Law enforcement officers are generally the first ones called to respond to a consumer in crisis, and it is imperative that the officer understand issues that the consumer may be experiencing as a result of his/her mental illness. The overall goal of the CIT training program is to treat mental illness as a disease, not a crime. Law enforcement officers will receive three and one-half days of specialized training in mental illness, crisis intervention techniques involving role playing, and individual interactions with individuals with mental illness in various stages of recovery so that they will be better
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AprilAlcohol Awareness Month
April 7-9 - Alabama Recovery Conference - Shocco SpringsApril 7-10 - CIT Training - TechnaCenter - Montgomery
April 15-17 - AL Council of Community MH Boards Sheraton, Birmingham
April 25-27 - Family to Family Training - Drury Inn, Montgomery
MayMental Health Month
May 2-8 - National Children’s Mental Health WeekMay 8 - National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day
May 4-9 - National Anxiety and Depression Awareness WeekMay 12-June 26 - ADMH Capitol Showcase
Consumer Art ExhibitionMay 15-21 - Older Americans’ Mental Health Week
May 16-18 - Connection Training – Drury Inn, Montgomery May 19-25 - Schizophrenia Awareness Week
June 27 National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day
JulyNational Minority Mental Health Month
July 11-13 - Family Support Group Training - Fairfield Inn, Montgomery
August 21-23 NAMI Alabama Annual Meeting - Drury Inn, Montgomery
SeptemberNational Recovery Month and Suicide Prevention Month
September 3-6 - NAMI Annual Meeting - Washington, D.C.September 7-13 - National Suicide Prevention Week
September 10 - World Suicide Prevention Day September 15-19 - National Wellness Week
OctoberADHD Awareness Month, Substance Abuse Month, and
National Disability Employment Awareness MonthOctober 3-9 Mental Illness Awareness WeekOctober 11 National Bipolar Awareness Day
October 10 National Depression Screening DayOctober 10 Worldwide Mental Health Day
November 9-15Mental Health Wellness Week
prepared to work with the consumer in crisis. We are pleased to partner with AUMs’ Alabama Crime Prevention Clearinghouse to conduct training at the TechnaCenter in Montgomery, April 7-10 for a total of 21.50 contact hours. Interested law enforcement personnel must register by April 2 at www.aum.edu/acpc. The presenters are as follows: Sergeant Melissa Beasley, Shannon Weston Byrd, Dr. Cynthia Bisbee, Dr. Paul Bisbee, Tommy Klinner, Henry Parker, Ana Maria Ramirez Sawyer, Daniel Williams, and Commissioner Jim Reddoch. Henry Stough and Linda Wright, Director of the AL Crime Prevention Clearinghouse & Training Institute, have been instrumental in coordinating the training and we appreciate their assistance. We are also grateful to Judge Reese McKinney (former Judge of Probate) for assisting us in meeting with Spencer Collier, Secretary of Law Enforcement to discuss possible funding for future trainings as we would like to conduct CIT Training around the state.
The NAMI Alabama Board plans to conduct the first statewide NAMIWalk in the fall of 2015. Jane Nichols is serving as the Board Chairperson for this virtual fundraiser and she reports that the date will be September 26 (not October 3 as previously reported) at the Wynton Blount Cultural Park. More details will be forthcoming. We are proud of NAMI Mobile for conducting the first affiliate NAMIWalk which is scheduled for May 17, 2014. Please support both of these events by encouraging teams of 10 to raise $1,000 each and/or by encouraging individual and corporate sponsorships. We need and appreciate your support of those we serve.
Find Help. Find Hope.
Sue GuffeyPresident
Call (334) 396-4794for more informationon trainings/events.
Leadership Training
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“Tapping the Right Expertise: How to Get the RIGHT People in the RIGHT Places”
Dr. Jinneh DysonSr. Manager
NAMI Center for Excellence
“NAMIWalks: Bringing Together a Community”
Chrissy ThorntonSenior NAMI Walk Manager
and
Charles “ Ebbie” Alfree, IIINAMI Walk Manager
Sylvia Richey, President of Visionary Guild
spoke about the Visionary Guild
“ Effective Strategic Planning: Positioning Your Organization for Long-Term Sustainability”
Nicole BrazeltonPresident and Sr. Consultant
Strategic Resource Solutions, LLC
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“Fundraising 101: Making the Ask”
Kelly HodgesDistrict Executive Director
Red Cross Central AL District
“Readiness for Federal Grants”
Kimberly RichardsonPresident
Kimberly Richardson Consulting
Ana Maria Sawyer and Ida Lockette enjoyed helping with the computer and serving as
time keepers for the Leadership Training.
Rob Douglas and Alexandria BrownAUM NAMI on Campus Club representatives
Leadership Training
NAMI Alabama Signature Program Coordinators
L to R: Sue Guffey – Family to Family, Jackie Milton – Family Support Group, Joan Elder – Parents & Teachers as Allies,
Connie Ewing – Basics, and James Hamilton – Peer to Peer
NAMI Alabama Outreach Program Coordinators
L to R: Lois Herndon – Sharing Hope Program and Ana Maria Sawyer – Hispanic Outreach
NAMI Alabama Signature Program Coordinators
Beverly Parker (R) – In Our Own Voice and Connection Coordinator and Christy Collins (L) – Consumer Council Representative and State Trainer for IOOV and Connection
Members of the Veterans’ Court Task Force L to R: Judge Bill Bostick, Daniel Williams – NAMI Alabama
Veterans Military Council Representative, and Col. Brian Morgan
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NAMIAlabama
Signature Program Coordinators
Sharing Hope and Hispanic Outreach Vet to Vet Outreach
Outreach Coordinators
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Medicaid Update
A proposed blueprint of Alabama’s plan to transition Medicaid to a new healthcare delivery system is now available for public comment until Friday, April 4. Comments may be submitted by mail or email.
1115 Waiver Comments% Administrative Procedures Office
Alabama Medicaid AgencyP.O. Box 5624 • Montgomery, AL 36103-5624
“The state is seeking approval of a Section 1115 Demonstration waiver to implement a new care delivery model that will improve upon and ensure the long-term sustainability of Alabama’s Medicaid program,” Acting Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar said. She added that the model will be based on the success of three current programs administered by the Agency: Maternity Care, Patient 1st, and the Patient Care Networks of Alabama (PCNs) and is expected to serve approximately 654,000 recipients.
1115 Demonstration waivers are used by states to research or test the cost and program effectiveness of innovative ideas that are otherwise not allowed under the state’s agreements with the federal government. In Alabama’s case, Medicaid hopes to test new strate-gies such as a delivery system through which risk bearing, provider-based regional care organizations are paid on a capitated basis, along with payment methodology changes that would move the state away from volume-based, fee-for-service reimbursements system to one that recognizes and rewards quality health outcomes.
“Our goal is to successfully implement a new healthcare delivery system by 2016,” said Azar. “We believe that approval and implementa-tion of this waiver will enable the state to meet its overall goals of improving patient experience, improving health and reducing costs.”
Please remember that the deadline for comments is April 4.
NAMI Alabama DonorsEducational Program Donors
GKN Aerospace Foundation (Michelle Alcathie-White)NAMI Centre
Rumberger, Kirk, and CaldwellJimmy Walsh
NAMIWalk DonorsGKN Aerospace Foundation (Michelle Alcathie-White)
Jane Nichols
THANK yOU FOR SUPPORTING NAMI ALABAMA!
Signature Program Coordinators
Join naMi and/or renew Your MembershipWhen you become a member of NAMI, you become part of America's largest grassroots
organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals living with serious mental illness. Join online today!
dues structure:$35.00 Regular Membership
$3.00 Open Door Membership (for economic necessity only)
For more information, please call 334-396-4797.
1401 I-85 Parkway, Suite AMontgomery, AL 36106Phone: (334) 396-4797
Fax: (334) 396-4794Email: [email protected]
www.NAMIAlabama.org
National Alliance on Mental Illness
A New Approach to Clinical TrialsBy Thomas Insel on February 27, 2014
NIMH has been in the spotlight lately for proposing the Research Domain Criteria or RDoC, a new framework for classifying mental disorders. One of the aims of RDoC is to help refocus clinical research, aligning it with what we are learning from biological, cogni-tive, and social science. This week, we are taking the first step in an initiative that, like RDoC, aims to realign research—but this time, the target is treatment development, an area in which progress has been frustratingly slow. In a series of funding announcements released this week, NIMH is making three important changes to how we will fund clinical trials.
First, future trials will follow an experimental medicine approach in which interventions serve not only as potential treatments, but as probes to generate information about the mechanisms underlying a disorder. Trial proposals will need to identify a target or mediator; a positive result will require not only that an intervention ameliorated a symptom, but that it had a demonstrable effect on a target, such as a neural pathway implicated in the disorder or a key cognitive operation. While experimental medicine has become an accepted approach for drug development, we believe it is equally important for the development of psychosocial treatments. It offers us a way to understand the mechanisms by which these treatments are leading to clinical change. Moreover, a subset of the funding announcements will support clinical trials that evaluate the effectiveness or increase the clinical impact of pharmacological, somatic, psychosocial, rehabilitative, and combination interventions.
Second, future trials will need to meet new standards for efficiency, transparency, and reporting. In an accompanying article, Changing NIMH Clinical Trials: Efficiency, Transparency, and Reporting, Nitin Gogtay, NIMH Associate Director for Clinical Research, and I review the clinical trials portfolio at NIMH for each of these measures. Recent performance in our clinical trials program is not acceptable: recruitment is too slow, registration in public databases is not consistent, and reporting takes too long to meet the needs of the public for better treatments. To respond to the public concern that “time matters,” we will be establishing new requirements for timelines, trial registration, publication, and data sharing.
Third, to ensure that these new requirements become the norm and not the exception, we will not support new clinical trials under past funding announcements. We will complete the current clinical trials in our portfolio, but new trials will be reviewed according to these new criteria, which include target engagement and new performance metrics.
Why these changes to our clinical trials enterprise? Treatment development has stalled. The pharmaceutical industry pipeline for medications is depleted, after several decades of “me too” drugs. For anxiety, mood disorders, and psychosis, there are few viable new targets because of an inadequate understanding of the biology of the disorders. For autism, anorexia nervosa, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, we lack effective medications. Psychosocial interventions have seen more innovation in the past decade with successful new treatments for anorexia nervosa and borderline personality disorder, as well as broader application of cognitive behavior therapy. But these treatments may not be disseminated or reimbursed in the new healthcare environment without evidence for the required dose and duration of treatment, necessary information for developing measures of fidelity to a validated treatment model. Neuromodula-tory treatments, such as brain stimulation, have seen the most innovation but will need considerably more rigor in terms of establishing mechanisms of action and required dose.
In the past, NIMH has supported early phase treatment development, with industry mounting the large-scale trials required for FDA approval. This approach was successful for generating new compounds but not for developing more effective treatments. Over the past decade, NIMH has supported large-scale, expensive effectiveness trials, such as CATIE and STAR*D. These trials were useful for identifying the limits of current treatments, but not helpful for improving outcomes. In the current climate, with funding tight and clinical needs urgent, we will be shifting to trials that focus on targets as a way of defining the next generation of treatments. The goal is better outcomes, measured as improved real-world functioning as well as reduced symptoms. We believe that better outcomes will require a deeper understanding of the disorders. These new clinical trials are designed to provide that.
My hope is that this shift in direction will improve the impact of NIMH clinical trials. I know that our grantee community will find this transition challenging. Some may be confused by these new requirements with a language that is unfamiliar. If you are a potential applicant, check out these frequently asked questions. And you may want to look at this explanation of how NIMH decided to make these changes.
If you are someone with a mental illness or with an affected family member, these changes are being made for you. Industry has reduced investments in medications for mental disorders and payers are raising questions about the quality of evidence for psychosocial treatments. We hope that this new approach to clinical trials will set us on a course to having the science base necessary for generating effective new therapeutics and validating those we have now.
For more information, visit www.nimh.org.
